1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a windshield wiping system and method and, more particularly, an intelligent wiper system and method having an adaptive pulse control which automatically adjusts a delay time between consecutive wipes in response to a wipe cycle time.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of windshield wiper systems, various schemes and designs have been used to control the movement of wiper blades across a windshield. Various schemes control a pulse rate delivered to a windshield wiper motor which, in turn, controls the rate at which the windshield wiper blades wipe the windshield. Many of these schemes have used various types of sensing devices to sense the amount of rain or debris present on the windshield, and the wiper rate is adjusted in response to the amount of rain sensed. Such systems include adjusting the wiper speed in response to vehicle speed, wiper coast and optical, resistive, capacitive, inductive and visual (e.g., artificial intelligence with CCD camera and lenses) and the like.
A problem with the prior art system is that they required the use of components, such as sensors, to provide a sensed measurement of the amount of rainfall on the windshield. However, such devices and components have not provided an economical and effective means of controlling windshield wipers to optimize visibility and manual intervention by the driver has still been required.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved windshield wiper control system and method which is effective to automatically adjust a delay time between successive wipes of the wiper blades and dependence on the amount of moisture on the windshield.